Chapter 78

*Bam* *Thud*

The commander flies through the wall with fast speed. It hits the ground, creating a big thud and crushing some zombies under its weight. Surrounding the area where it lands, breaks of concrete can be seen all over the ground.

Sam stands at the hole he just made after smashing the zombie commander against it. His eyes gaze at the ground.

From all around, the undead keep on gathering. Especially since the crumbling of the first building, more has been trying to come here. The number of them should be around ten thousand rather than just thousands of moments before.

Yet there is nowhere for Sam to move. If he keeps on running, it will be the same again. They will once more cooperate and beat him down once there is a chance.

Sam clenches his fists, the fire on his gauntlets glows brighter and hotter. The usual orange color is changing into yellow.

With a sharp look on his face, Sam raises his arms sideways and jumps down.

The zombies below him open their mouths wide, seemingly waiting for a delicious meal.

But they are wrong. The meal they are waiting for is a fiery eruption.

Fire and Wind combination.

Fire Magic: Explosion Blade.

This spell is an upgraded version of Wind Blade It is ine that has not just the cleaving properties of Wind, but also the combustion of Fire Bomb.

For zombies, Sam has noticed that using plain Fire Bombs sometimes blasts the enemies away and does not remove their brain function. This is why he thinks of a new spell.

*Ram* *Ram*

From high above, Sam slashes his arms. The ground underneath his feet shakes violently as an 'X' is carved on it. The invisible blade cuts through the zombies cleanly, yet that is not done.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM*

Every time it travels through a body, Explosion Blade would combust, breaking the two already fragile pieces of his enemies into bits.

What is left behind of his spell is not a charred body, what is left behind is nothing at all.

*Thump*

Sam lands on the ground right between the 'X' he just created. Surrounding him at this point is nothing but orange-yellow fire. The Ice Armor protects him from the heat of his own magic. Through the transparent ice, his face can be seen drenched in sweats. Because of his constant use of magic, Sam's mana reservoir has been reduced to only half of his max. Still, he needs to continue without borrowing any mana from the girls.

One, two, three, ...eight.

Eight zombified magic users. Those are his targets, not the commander. As long as they are dead, he can then really focus on either fighting the boss or running. That he can decide later.

Fire elements in the area start to gather on his fists once more. His Explosive Fists are ready to be used again.

"Ah!"

In his vision, the commander is already standing. He can see something that resembles a grin on its terrible face. The rest of the zombie magic users so has the same thing. As if they are mocking him for challenging them with no one else to help him.

Of course, they have every right to behave like that. After all, they have an army.

And Sam has only his two arms, two legs, and a working brain.

Enough waiting, he does what he knows the best: closing the distance. Strangely, he does not run straight, but in a very odd way.

*Rumble rumble*

The zombie commander does the same. Its heavy weight examples the ground, crushing everything under its feet. Any step that Sam takes, the zombie will follow the opposite to aim directly at him.

As for the minions, they are all preparing their magic spells, ready to fire when Sam makes a mistake.

But coincidentally, that gigantic body of the big boss covers Sam's location. Since it is at least the size of an elephant, it can block the visual field very easily. Only the commander can have a total view of him.

In the period when Sam was counting, he has seen the others and has devised an optimal angle so that if they do attack, they will attack the boss first, making it a meat shield for Sam himself.

Ten feet until impact.

Five feet.

Three feet.

"AAAAAAAH!!!" Sam yells his battle cry.

"GUOOOOOOOO!!" Answers his opponent.

They both pull the right arm back, bodies turn slightly to the right. In their eyes, only the opponent matters.

From the commander's ankle to its waist, to its right arm, all muscles contract. The monster draws its kinetic energy from the abnormally large muscles throughout its entire body. The monster has consumed thousands of people to reach this state, which means Sam is not facing one zombie, but the force of a thousand of them.

The guy can feel the immense pressure of doom starting to overwhelm him.

He extends his left arm from his waist to his left side. The fire on his right disappears. Instead, there is a metal chain forming.

*Bam*

His body is pushed towards the right side thanks to the propeller of his left arm.

*WHOOOOOOOOSH!!!!*

The huge fist flies through the air. Its pressure grazes Sam's Ice Armor and Defensive Armor, leaving on his face a small cut. Dust, stones, and even smaller zombies behind Sam are pushed away by the wind generated from that punch alone. If that hit, he would have been obliterated.

Having successfully deceived the zombie boss, Sam dashes at the magic-user zombies behind it.

"GRAAAAAAAH!!!" The zombie commander yells in wrath. It has been tricked by Sam. Now, it wants to destroy him even more than before.

His metal chains are ready.

*Cling cling*

In his eye is the first one and is also the nearest. Nonetheless, Sam shoots out eight chains in total.

Without much doubt, they throw their spells at him. Yet he has been expecting that.

The same tactic as before back behind the walls of the buildings, Sam lowers his body, making the spells miss. Some actually manage to hit him, still, Sam tanks through those attacks with three layers of his defense.

The metal chains are fired forward, wrapping the legs of 4 zombies by surprise. They clearly did not expect him to bind them rather than attack them.

*Giii*

Sam tugs on the chains while moving forward, making the four successful targets fall down.

"!!" There is the wind behind his back! The hair on his nape stands!

Sam immediately spread his left arm backward and ignites his fire.

*Boom*

From the crouching position, he is blasted upward. Right at that moment, the tightly clenched fist of the now incredibly angered commander comes down onto the earth.

*Crack crack crack crack*

*KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!*

Like a meteor hitting the ground, or a missile exploding, the earth is beaten down and shattered into pieces. A small earthquake follows the impact of the zombie commander. Even the buildings afar and the zombies around can not stand properly as they fall and crumble.

Regardless, no matter how powerful an attack is, if it does not connect to its target, it will not be counted as successful.

While in the air, Sam has another thing in his mind.

Fire and Light combination.

Light Creation Magic: Energy.

Energy combined with the metal chains Sam is holding will be Electricity. Luckily, the gauntlets are resistant to electricity. When Sam and the girls were doing mock battles, they tested many things out with the gauntlets and found the items were phenomenal, better than anything Earth can create.

*Bzzzzzzzzzzz*

There is no delay. Since the zombies are wrapped by Sam's metal chains, they have no way to escape either.

Quickly, on the ground are four charred corpses.

4 down, 4 more to go.